Counterfeit products cost Europe €16bn yearly, says EU

The European Union's Intellectual Property Office said on Tuesday that counterfeit goods, which are primarily clothing, cause the European economy to lose 16 billion euros annually and cause almost 200,000 job losses.

Relying on data spanning from 2018 to 2021, the agency's findings indicate that counterfeit goods cause the clothing industry the greatest harm, with an estimated yearly cost of 12 billion euros ($13.1 billion), or 5.2% of total sales.

Although the EUIPO issued a warning, "Counterfeiting, like any illegal activity, cannot be accurately measured," fake cosmetics account for three billion euros in losses, while toys represent one billion euros.

Based on the quantity of goods confiscated by law enforcement and the proportion of Europeans who acknowledged purchasing fake goods in every member state of the EU, its conclusions were drawn.
According to a June 2023 study, half of all young respondents felt that purchasing counterfeit goods was acceptable if the genuine item's price was too high. This percentage increased to one-third of Europeans overall.

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Austria accounted for half of the annual losses from counterfeiting, which mostly affected just five EU members.

The EUIPO stated that Germany was losing 40,000 jobs annually, Italy was losing 24,000, and France and Spain were losing 15,000 jobs each, based on the findings.